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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 001210 Tribe in preparing a subsequent cost estimate in 1997 under an agreement with Reclamation. Between October 1996 and October 1997, the Project's scope was further shaped by an effort to resolve controversies between project supporters and project opponents. This effort - initiated by then Governor of Colorado Romer and then Secretary of the Interior Babbitt - was known as the RomerlSchoettler3 process. It concluded with identification of both a structural and non-structural alternative, by project supporters and opponents, respectively. In a related activity, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe prepared a draft report, "The ALP Project Diversion and Depletion Alternative," in August 1997. This proposal was similar to the scope of the Animas-La Plata Project now under construction, except it included 7,515 acre-feet of water for irrigation. In August 1998, after additional work between the Tribes and Interior's Working Group on Indian Water Rights, as well as with members of the Congress, Secretary Babbitt announced the Administration's proposal to build an Animas- La Plata Project designed primarily to implement the Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement. This proposal became the plan upon which the 1999 cost estimate and 2000 FSEIS were based. B. Development of the 1999 Project Cost Estimate In January 1999, Reclamation filed a Notice of Intent to prepare a supplement to the 1996 FSEIS. The schedule allowed 18 months to complete and file a final EIS. In August 1999, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe entered into an agreement, "Final Plan of Approach" (see Appendix 5) with Reclamation to help prepare the Supplemental EIS. One of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe's tasks was to review and analyze information in Reclamation's 1996 FSEIS. The 1996 FSEIS described a larger project than the current one and included both appraisal and feasibility level engineering data for various project alternatives, and all related cost estimates. The 1999 PCE was the product of this task. A contractor for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe relied on and derived most of the cost estimates for the 1999 PCE from Reclamation's 1993 and 1996 analyses, with the exception of Ridges Basin Dam. The contractor also based estimates on field visits to multiple dam sites within the Project vicinity, analysis of materials at proposed borrow sites, and other material analysis associated with dam construction. Discussions about the cost estimates occurred between the contractor and Reclamation's Western Colorado Area Office (WCAO) between February and July 2000. The purpose of these discussions was to assure proper 3 Schoettler was then Lieutenant Governor of Colorado 5